Somewhere Only We Know
by Pixie Ayanami
Summary: When Misao screws up a mission for the Oniwabanshuu, she starts to question her own abilities and purpose. After she meets up with the ex-Tenken, they realize that it's not so easy to run away from the past...


**Disclaimer:** Hola! Pixie Ayanami here once again with another Sou/Mi fic! It's going to be an "epic" fic, unlike my previous one shot (though that one shot "The Rain's Instinct" will have more added to its story...). I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. That belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki. I was influenced to write this story by Keane's song "Somewhere Only We Know", hence the title. I do own this fanfiction and any ideas that I come up with in it. Please enjoy!

**Summary: **When Misao screws up a mission for the Oniwabanshuu, she starts to question her own abilities and purpose. When the ex-Tenken, Soujiro Seta, crosses her crosses her path, she leaves with him on his journey to discover himself, the same she wants to do. However, the two of them realize that running away from the past is not as easy as they thought...

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Somewhere Only We Know  
****By Pixie Ayanami  
****Period 1: The Name that Precedes You

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"C'mon, you worthless Tenken, fight!"

Another hit. More blood. The ex'Tenken, Soujiro Seta, almost doubled over in pain from the blows his opponent was giving him. While on his journey, he came across a bounty hunter who was searching for him. Apparently the Tenken name still follows the new rurouni. When they met, Soujiro explained that he wasn't a fighter anymore. He carries his weapon as a reminder of the sins he's commited. He was harmless, so why go after him?

"Easy," the bounty hunter replied, "there's a lot of money running on your head since the government has never found you. I plan on getting, since it is a nice amount of cash."

And then the "fight" began. Soujiro refused to take out his sword or use his Shukuchi, so for the most part the "fight" was the bounty hunter beating up the other. Soujiro stared at the opponent through one of his eyes. The other eye was too swollen now to open up. Blood flowed from his lip and down his chin, and his clothes were tattered with other wounds. To the bounty hunter, he looked beaten already.

"Tch, this was easy! I guess the 'almighty Tenken' was a fluke after all," the hunter arrogantly said, "But the one thing that bugs me is that you still have that smile on your face! I'll have to clean it right off!"

As the hunter went in for another blow with his sword, Soujiro ducked beneath him and finally pulled out his own weapon. Faster than what the hunter's eyes could see, the Tenken flipped the sword and brought the flat edge up to the hunter's throat. The force of the attack caused the hunter to fall backwards onto the side of the tree, Soujiro's following him. Again, the Tenken applied enough pressure to start to suffocate the opponent.

With a smile evident on his face, Soujiro said, "I'm sorry. Really I am. You must understand though, I can't be caught because... well, it's impossible. But nice try, anyways. Now, I'm going to let you go as long as you give up the title as 'bounty hunter'. Ok?" The hunter couldn't answer because of the pressure at his neck. Instaed he made some sort of choking sound. Soujiro smiled childishly. "I'll take that as a yes."

Like he said, Soujiro backed away slowly. Once the sword was gone, the bounty hunter fell to the ground gsping for air. "We're done here," Soujiro said again as he turned to leave, making sure his back was as straight as it could be despite his fatigue. The bounty hunter glared at his opponent's back. Taking a dagger from out his sleeve, the bounty hunter made one last attempt at Soujiro. But then when the hunter was nearing him, Soujiro seemed to have vanished.

"I told you," came a voice from in back of the hunter, "we're done here." With this, the hunter's victum smacked him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. The hunter fell, passed out cold.

Soujiro let out a breath of air. "Whoo, I haven't used Shukuchi for a while! But it always has the desired effect," he said to himself as he took a step forward. Suddenly his left foot almost buckle beneath him. Grabbing on to a tree, he wondered, "Perhaps during that fight I twisted it on accident. Whoops!"

He looked out the clearing of the trees and into the distance. "I better get going to the next town soon so that my wounds don't get infected..." he said as he used his scabbard as a crutch to hobble off. He knew where he wanted to go, and it was just his luck: the next city was Kyoto.

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The moments Misao Makimachi had to herself were like bliss. No one was hounding her about chores, no one was scolding her about her behavior, no one was messing around with her, period. The young ninja could not ask for anything else right now. The crowded home of the Aoiya was always noisy with arguments (usually started by herself), rude customers (for which she would start arguments with), and random other bickering. Though it had its good points, sometimes Misao just liked to stowe away from it all. She hardly thought while alone, Misao just listened to the songs of the birds, watched the colorful sunset...

...And gardened her plants.

"Here you go Amelia," Misao cooed to the purple flower. Why Amelia? Well it was some English flower she picked up a while ago. It deserved an English name, if Amelia was an English name. Misao, in fact, fastidiously chose all her plants. All the flowers, or ferns, or whatever she decided to plant held some special place in her heart and tended to them with care.

Misao had found the perfect place to tend her plants. It was a small patch of land about a mile or so from the Aoiya at the top of a hill. Off to the side was a tree that grew around a large slab of granite. It was convenient because after Misao watered her plants she could relax and sit on the rock to watch the sunset, mind wrpped in lucid thoughts. However, she had to keep her mind either really busy or totally blank, else it might wander into thoughts she didn't want to touch on to.

Those thoughts being Aoshi Shinomori.

Another reason why she liked to get away from the Aoiya is so that people don't ask her about Aoshi. To be honest, she didn't feel anything for him anymore. It had been two years since Aoshi returned to the Aoiya. Two years he's kept himself held up in a temple meditating. At first she was estatic that he was back. Misao would visit him every single day and just stay with him. Sometimes they would talk, but most times the air was static. Watching her strong Aoshi do nothing for so very long made her bored out of her mind. At first she'd visit him every day. Then it turned to be five days a week. Then three, then one. Now she hardly ever goes to see him and stopped about a year ago. It wasn't long until thoughts about Aoshi diminished all together. However, people at the Aoiya, mainly Okon and Omasu, treat her still as though she has that little girl crush. A lot of times Misao would just ignore them, but most times it was just annoying!

However, the thoughts that kept coming to her was _why _she didn't like Aoshi. Wasn't she _supposed _to like the man? She worked so hard to bring him back. She was determined to make him hers. But when she thought succeeded, she just realized it wasn't worth the trouble. It was like trying to steal a jade egg from a palace that was surrounded by guards. Too risky, too much trouble. With this thought her determination for him vanished and she just didn't care for him in that way any more. But who was she going to go for now? Most girls her age were already married and she had no one. Or at least certainly not anyone from Kyoto that would interest her. Not that she interested in marrying right now. The thought of working for someone else and bearing children really didn't interest her. It was more of the thought of being alone that frightened her.

Misao would then sigh and lean against the tree. She couldn't find any answers to her questions with her plants. They can't choose their actions, they just live. And then this would ring her into another dose of confusing questions. Just as these thoughts made her dizzy, she would hear a far off chime that sounded like it came closer when she dismissed her thoughts. It was a bell, a bell that sounded when it was time for her to come home.

This happened today, as well, except Misao wasn't thinking of anything. Just as she was about to doze off to sleep, the bell sounded, loud in her ears.

What an obnoxious bell!

Groaning, Misao stood up and dusted herself off. It wasn't even sunset and they already wanted her home. That stupid old man must have wanted her to do some sort of chore. She groaned again and started off for the restaurant.

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"Misao, you're late," Okina said in a very business-like manner as Misao entered his office. She was now excited, because if it was a chore, someone would just tell her down in the restaurant. In Okina's office is where members of the Oniwabanshuu received their mission specs. Even though Misao was the Okashira of the clan of ninjas, she was considered "too young" to be given any real assignments. Hopefully this time would be different, and from the sound the the old man's voice, it just might be.

"Sorry Jiya," Misao said, "It took me a while to get back. What do you want?"

"Misao, I have a mission for you. With you being the Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu, I expect that it will completed with no problems or flaws," Okina said, folding his hands over the desk. Misao's heart gave a jump as he continued, "In two days, a group of men will be bringing a package intended for the Ayanami Group on the other side of Kyoto. As you know, the Ayanami Gang is a group of criminals. Because they have chapters spread through out the cities of Japan, their various criminal doings causes them to be a huge threat. Our information specialists have discovered that the package is very important to the gang, though it is not known what it is. What I want you to do is intercept the package and bring it back here. Understand?"

Misao, though excited inside, kept a complacent smirk to her face and gave a curt nod. Finally, her Jiya realized that she was an adult and ready for solo missions! "How many people am I looking for in two days?" Misao asked, still trying to keep her cool.

"You'll encounter a group of three, all men. My suspicion is that they want to look as inconspicuous as possible, so don't be surprised if they are dressed as farmers or something along that line. Don't be fooled, though; I hear everyone in the Ayanami Group is skilled with some weapon. Though I believe you can handle it," Okina explained. Again, Misao felt like she could jump out of her skin. Okina had such confidence in her! While she was still trying to keep a serious demeanor, the old man finished, "For right now, I want you to go explore the crossroads, which is where you'll attack. It's a couple miles outside of Kyoto. I want you to go and look for the hiding spot that you will use in two days. Once that's done come back."

Misao was taken aback. "Right now you want me to do that? But it's almost nightfall!" Misao complained, her serious manner quickly disappearing.

"No complaints, Misao. Go now," Okina stated, standing up to show that their conversation was over. Misao groaned inwardly and walked off. This wasn't how she planned on spending her evening, but there was nothing she could do about it. Slowly, she wakled down the stairs to the kitchen and grabbed some insipid white rice to quickly eat. Once she was finished, she left the Aoiya to go to the selected locaton Okina told her about.

As she walked along, the sky grew darker and darker, "This is horrible!" Misao thought aloud, "I can't see in the dark! How does Jiya expect me to find a good hiding spot if I can't SEE!" The poor and mishappened ninja waked along the dirt road and outside the gates of Kyoto. She could see the moon rising in the distance; perfect. Just perfect.

After about a half hour of walking and the moon high above her head, Misao finally reached the crossroads where Okina told her to go. It was dark out, so the young ninja couldn't see very well. Peering through the obscuremess, Misao determined that the road was quite wide and flat. The dirt road rose up from small grassy ditches on either side. On the left side of the road were rice fields. On the other side, next to the ditches, was the forrest. Misao slumped back to one foot and thought. This was going to be harder than she thought. Obviously the farmland was too flat to hide in, she'd be seen immediately. The forrest would end up being her best bet, but those grass ditches were the problem. If she hid in the forrest, she'd have to jump down and run up the ditches to reach the street and by that time she'd already be seen.

Misao looked above her. If she could find a tree that had a limb extending over the road, she could use that one to hide in. Sure enough, a couple meters behind her she found the dark form of such a tree. The limb appeared to be strong enough to carry her weight (not that she was heavy!). Skidding down the ditch to the basaee of the tree, she snapped out her tokikunai and marked it with a very large "X" so that she could find the tree again in two days.

Misao smiled triumphantly. "There! Now I'm done and I can finally go home to--"

Misao stopped suddenly, sensing something. It was odd for travellers to wander about in the night, so the girl was wary. Silently (or as silently as she could), Misao crept towards the side of the ditch, peering over its side to the road. She couldn't seen anything, but she did hear a groan. A groan, almost a painful one. Whoever it was was in pain and was hurt, so there was no need for Misao to hide. Climbing up the side of the ditch, she saw the source of the noise. A man, maybe in the younger twenties, was languidly hobbling down the road using a sword as a crutch to help him. Misao just gaped at the young man in amazement. He has a sword? That was another thing people didn't do; carry swords. Snapping out of this thought she concentrated harder on the young man as he limped forward.

The young man paused in front of Misao and looked up. She had to squint her eyes to view the man in the dark with scrutinizing observation, and when she could see the mn her eyes widened and she gasped. His eye was swollen and dried trails of blood marked his face. But what surprised Misao the most was the fact that the young man was _smiling_. Surely he was in pain?

The young man tried to stand up straight once he reached Misao, still smiling. "Please excuse me..." he said quietly in a hoarse whisper. An acute jolt of pain shot up the young man's leg as he took another step forward and from thsi he fell on the ground hard. Misao jumped out of the way of the direct line of his fall, cursing herself afterwards for not catching him.

_'What am I going to do?' _she wondered to herself worriedly as she watched the man stay stagnant on the ground. Being the benevolant citizen and deferent ninja Misao was, she knew there was only one thing to do. She had to help the young man. Bending down, she helped pulled him up, having a difficult time in the process. She realized that he slipped unconcious. _'This is going to be harder than I thought,' _she said again, echoing the very thoughts she had about finding a hiding spot. Looking ahead of her, Misao slowly dragged the young man back towards Kyoto.

Tsuzukeru...

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Welp, that's the first chapter! Kind of short, but sets the mood. Please R&R to make me a happy duck!


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